


Fate and Fury

by Miaiko



Category: Death Stranding (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Beached Things (Death Stranding), Death Stranding Spoilers, Dominance, Emotional Manipulation, Eventual Smut, F/M, Homo Demens (Death Stranding), Hurt/Comfort, My First AO3 Post, Original Character(s), Please Don't Hate Me, Slow Burn, Stockholm Syndrome, Timefall (Death Stranding)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:35:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22617985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miaiko/pseuds/Miaiko
Summary: Alex is one of three sisters from a MULE camp West of Lake Knot City, all with high-level DOOMS.These three sisters are called The FURIES.With terrorists constantly causing trouble, and everyone struggling to survive, it's a wonder how this broken world is everything she could have ever asked for.
Relationships: Fragile & Higgs Monaghan, Fragile/Higgs Monaghan, Higgs Monaghan/Original Character(s), Higgs Monaghan/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	Fate and Fury

**Author's Note:**

> Oh God I finally done did it.  
> This is my first AO3 post and I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. Please be gentle, or I'll make you very uncomfortable through new and creative ways including but not limited to crying or irrational bouts of rage. (Honestly it depends on the day I'm having, I am an enigma even unto myself.)  
> Anyway, so I've been submerging myself in Death Stranding for a while now and figured it was time to write while the writing's good. I feel like Higgs was very underutilized in the whole grand scheme of things, and this is kind of remedying that in my own way. I have a lot of random ideas and enjoy writing, but I'm by no means an expert and make a bunch of mistakes, even on my FanFic stories from years ago. If you can manage to get some enjoyment out of reading this I'll have done my job. That being said, fingers crossed, and enjoy the show.

The sound of a heavily overloaded truck engine stalling echoed throughout the barren area just west of Lake Knot city. It was soon accompanied by mechanical groans and the muffled sound of pumping brakes. The driver attempted to get the engine to turn over, but it seemed the Bridges branded truck had finally met its end. Inside the cab, the porter grew visibly nervous, due to the knowledge that MULEs and Terrorists had both frequented these parts and timefall was moments away. The shocks creaked under the shifting of the young man's weight. 

It had been fortunate, at the very least, that he had not stalled in BT territory, where the only option would have been to ditch his cargo and make way for the facility. The distressed porter thought to try one final time before unloading what he could carry, freezing only when he heard the ping of a very familiar device. His blackened hand froze, moments away from turning the key. Breath shallowed as he waited anxiously for confirmation of what he simply didn’t want to believe, a worst-case scenario playing in real time. His body shook at the sound of pulse, this time much closer.   
  
_MULEs..._   
  
It was as if the mere thought alone brought them out from the woodwork, circling him like a pack of hyenas on their stolen reverse trikes. He found himself thinking about the stories other porters had told him, how they never took prisoners, only cargo. They had pinged quite a bit of cargo as well, resulting in the appearance of most, if not all, of the MULE camp. He found himself absently biting his dry lips until a metallic tang prompted him to come back to reality and come up with a plan. Quickly, the auburn-haired porter latched his hold on the driver's side door, swallowing as the reverse trikes kicked up more dirt and rocks, the sound of it showering the doors on all sides. 

He noticed to his dismay that they were using the cover of fog to disorient him, sensory overload. These were professionals. On cue, he felt someone try for the door and slammed forward with all of his might in an attempt to take back control. To his surprise, the MULE in crimson toppled over, leaving him with potentially his only opening to escape, ditching his gear and cargo in a mad dash for Lake Knot City. Hoots and hollers surrounded him, as well as a few laughs at their toppled over comrade who had been quick to get up to their feet and make chase. 

A moment later he heard their steps fall silent, perplexing him he attempted to turn around, only to have the wind knocked out of him for his efforts. Crumpling to the ground, the man's hazel eyes exploded in pain and shock. Cheers could be heard further off in the blackness, encouraging the assault yards away. He looked to see the same MULE he had toppled over standing miraculously in front of him, though he knew he had gained quite a bit of distance in his head start. 

"Please don't." Was all he managed to choke out before his opponent's fist collided with his teeth, sending him face-first into oblivion. 

It was wet when the man came to, and he was alone. No MULEs, no cargo, blood marring his dark features and entwining in his sideburns and short scruff. Disoriented, he wiped the rain from his forehead with an unfamiliar hand before sitting up with a snap. It didn't rain anymore. 

_This is_ _timefall_ _._

He looked at the marred skin before him and tried his best to assess the damage by touch, wrinkled fingers shakily gliding over his once moderately handsome features in horror before letting out an anguished cry across the barren, broken Earth. 

* * *

"Holy shit..." A muffled voice exhaled through a full-faced Balaklava. The MULEs were now about 10 klicks west from Lake Knot City, stopping only after the timefall ceased for the day. 

"What a rush huh?" Another MULE laughed out, out of breath but sated. After a long exhale, they chuckled again and shook their heads in wonder. 

"You DOOMS guys are something else. Rack 'em up, let's get back home." 

When they finally made it to camp, most broke off into teams to sift through their haul and put inside their inventory tent to open at a later time. Quickly afterward, bunkmates began trudging to their respective tents keen to get rest or decompress after satisfying their daily high of a good run. The only three vermilion colored MULEs of the camp came together then, shrugging off said armor and strapping, before removing their face masks. The only thing rarer than a red-suited MULE was a female MULE, yet this camp had managed to procure 3 sisters with DOOMS. They called them FURIES, of the mythos and their temperaments. 

"You two did well out there today." The oldest was Tisiphone, affectionately called Tiss. A genuine stoic with cold grey eyes nobody wanted to be on the receiving end of, should she be in one of her moods. “We really needed a good haul after this month and a half. Supplies have been fewer and far in between with all of this terrorist talk flying around.” She sighed, momentarily caught up in her own thoughts as she let her deep chestnut brown hair fall to her waist from its tight braid. 

The middle child Megaera, or Meg as she preferred to be called, donned the same chestnut brown hair, though cropped short and resting just above her neckline. 

"Alex you killed it out there! I didn't expect to see you successfully jump like that." 

Alecto or Alex, the youngest, made a sour face at the offhanded compliment. She wrapped her waist-length hair into a lazy bun, tucking the fiery red strands behind her ears in a huff and shoving a 'borrowed' Bridges hat atop. She had been the only sibling of the three to be born with their mother's hair, now the only reminder of her they had left. However painful it may be. 

She hated it. 

"I've jumped before." The young woman snapped, reaching for her canteen as she fell back onto her bunk. Her short temper flared up, perfectly matching her other sister’s as the latter shifted in place. 

"Hence why I said 'successfully' you might have DOOMS, but you've got a long way to go to catch up to me and Tiss. Meg chastised without malice. The two sisters were forever locked in a game of who could piss the other off more. 

"I agree. You need to focus. Train your mind as well as your body once a day isn’t nearly enough." Tiss instructed, receiving a deep sigh for her efforts. The older sister narrowed her eyes. “Being a late bloomer isn’t an excuse Alecto. I believe your full, untapped, powers could rival both of ours if you would only take this more seriously.” 

"Yes, mom." The redhead scoffed, leaving the tent before the two carried on about her faults all the more. 

* * *

Alex took a leisurely walk around the camp before deciding to hit the showers and wash off the grit and grime of the day. Very focused on taking as long as humanly possible, in an attempt to catch a break from her sisters rambling until they succumbed to their exhaustion. She mostly kept to herself in the camp, with the exceptions of her sisters anyway. Tiss did most of the talking when it came to the rest, Meg not as often, but Alex preferred a symphony of silence, taking in her surroundings and information that may be useful in the future. 

She had become a reservoir for all kinds of miscellaneous knowledge and made a habit of obtaining more through literature and articles of things long forgotten. Another habit her mother had passed onto her, essentially the only thing she received from their father was his cold blue eyes, brilliant as well as menacing, and his rage. With eyes like that, it made looking in the mirror hard, to say the least.   
  
Alex placed her hand against the rushed masonry of the shower stall, balancing herself as she undid her black combat boots over the mud-laden tiles. The air still held humidity from someone’s recent shower and she made a point not to dawdle in view, lest she attract unwanted company from a newer, stupider recruit. She slid her black leggings off in a swift movement, letting her charcoal grey tank cover her modesty as she slipped into the shower.   
  
There were 2 temperatures; boiling and ice cold. It was a luxury few had outside of Bridges or Fragile Express affiliation, and it was one that made this more permanent location a highly sought-after area of real estate. This territory had been long occupied by MULEs, that being said, the MULEs currently inhabiting the camp did not become so by diplomatic means. Though if she had to guess, Alex would wager the former residents had probably also taken the area by nefarious means. The young woman opted for boiling, and soon spirals of steam danced up her body. Suddenly taking her mind away from the exhaustion of human interaction, and focusing her attention on the searing water cascading down her pale skin, leaving trails of red behind in its wake.   


When she was finished, Alex got changed back into her leggings and shrugged on a thin hoodie that she didn't even bother to zipper up. She let her hair down from her slightly damp bun and shook away any residual wet strands that had plastered themselves to her face. The thickness of her mane acted as a secondary shield from the elements as she prepared for high winds and cool air whipping in all directions. Fortunately, the hot shower made the air much more tolerable, and she strolled back toward her tent in her own time. Stopping momentarily to look out over the darkening sky and vast terrain. 

Ever since the Death Stranding had broken the world, people had been more interested in developing and reforming connections. Personally, she found herself fonder of this new world, though she would never admit it to her jaded sisters. The chaos of the world was so eerily still- so very, very, quiet. She found it much like herself at times, and bent to its mercy out of respect.   
  
Very suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by an intense feeling of being watched. Nothing had changed in the distance, but her body went rigid and the back of her neck prickled at the feeling. Her eyes set East of the compound and froze there. Waiting and watching back. Staring ahead at a feeling she didn’t quite understand, but trusted herself to be wary of. She could have stayed there for twenty minutes or more, time was irrelevant. It was like the visual feeling of forgetting a word on the tip of your tongue, being seconds away from unearthing it from the deepest crevice of your mind. She could almost visualize the force boring into her, sense its features... and then suddenly- 

“Alex." 

“FUCKING CHRIST.” Alex exclaimed at the sound of her own name in her ear, heart-bursting from her chest in a mixture of fright and anger. It was a common theme for her to get mad almost immediately upon getting scared, and it was something Meg relished in seeing. 

"You’ve been gone forever we were starting to get worried you wandered off.” The pixie-haired woman flashed a mischievous grin, cleverly just out of arms reach. 

“I could turn you to ashes.” She seethed, shooting her eyes back to nothingness. The feeling had left her and whatever had been lurking beyond the camp had completely vanished without a trace. Not that there really was one to begin with. Sensing something off, the middle sister turned a bit more serious and followed her younger sibling’s gaze. 

“We all good?” She inquired in a low tone, shifting her weight to the side. 

“I’m not sure.” Alex answered honestly, contemplating her next move before risking a jump to the area to the east. The feeling didn’t fully return, but she felt something to a lesser extent. A muted version she couldn’t necessarily place, and wasn’t sure where to start. Meg appeared beside her with fury building behind her eyes at the prospect of a potential intruder, but eased up when she recognized there was no imminent danger. 

“You bugging or something Lexi?” She joked, seemingly unable to pick up on what her sister distantly felt. 

“Yeah, just lost in my head again.” The redhead wrote off aloud, reassuring Meg with a look of finality before making another jump back to- 3 feet ahead of her.   
_Shit._ She cursed herself as she ‘stalled’ physically shaking in anger that she still had a limit when it came to jumps. 

“At your limit already? And after making such a cool display coming all the way over here!” She heard the brunette woman chastise, to her contempt. 

“I can walk.” A warning tone shot out, like a growl from an injured animal promising to lash out in kind. 

“There’s no way you’ll be able to walk all the way back to camp from here, it’s getting dark. Don't be unreasonable.” The older sister moved in closer, holding out her arms. 

“I can walk just fine, don’t touch me.” Alex pulled back, her voice rising in alarm as her sister closed the distance between them and wrapped her into a quick embrace, jumping with her in tow.   
  
Back at the camp, the two women appeared where they left and almost immediately the younger of the two collapsed- partly out of anger, and partly out of physical exhaustion. 

“God damn it I told you not to do that.” She spat in a daze, disoriented and unable to keep herself upright without assistance. 

“It’s like ripping off a band-aid kid, get used to it.” Meg chuckled, pulling Alex up before walking back to their tent. “Get your shit together, we have a lot of training to do tomorrow.” Leaving no room for excuses for weakness. The only thing left for Alex to do was stumble ahead, and force herself not to look behind her at the feeling of goosebumps raising over her skin once again.   
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Press F to pay respects to porter man.


End file.
